North American 3 Hockey League
| champion = Granite City Lumberjacks (2015) | folded = | website = http://www.na3hl.com }} The North American 3 Hockey League (NA3HL) is an American Tier III Junior "A" ice hockey league that consists of 34 teams from Illinois, Ohio, Iowa, Michigan, and Missouri. The NA3HL is a member of USA Hockey, and the winner of the NA3HL's playoffs goes on to play for the National Championship. League History The league began as the a Junior B-level league known as the Central States Hockey League (CSHL), during the early 1980s it was known as Metro Detroit Junior Hockey League.http://na3hl.com/news/story.cfm?id=1944 but returned to the CSHL name until 2010. The league moved up from Junior B to Tier III Junior A status in the summer of 2007 because it was considered to be one of the top Junior B leagues in the United States. The past four years, the St. Louis Jr. Blues proved their dominance on the national stage winning the national championship four years in a row. The Jr Blues made history during the 2006-2007 season. They were the first team to win four consecutive national titles, breaking a record that was set over 60 years ago. During the 2008-2009 season, it was announced that the Pittsburgh Jr. Penguins would be joining the CSHL for the 2009-2010 season, bringing the number of teams to 13. The league will return to 12 teams for 2010-11, as the Dubuque Thunderbirds franchise folded making room for the return of the Dubuque Fighting Saints in United States Hockey League. On November 1, 2010 it was announced that the North American Hockey League would take control of the CSHL immediately. The NAHL-CSHL affiliation allows for a more structured Jr. hockey system to provide athletes with more opportunities to advance to college and pro hockey. At the time of the take over the league was renamed to the North American 3 Hockey League (NA3HL).http://na3hl.com/news/story.cfm?id=1944http://www.nahl.com/news/story.cfm?id=1944 In May, 2011 it was announced that the Granite City Lumberjacks, Minnesota Flying Aces, North Iowa Bulls and the Twin City Steel would be joining the North American 3 Hockey League (NA3HL) beginning with the 2011-2012 season bringing the total number of teams in the NA3HL to 16. http://www.na3hl.com/news/story.cfm?id=2669 http://www.na3hl.com/news/story.cfm?id=2674 In a press release dated June 17, 2013 the league announce plans to expand with 4 teams in South Division for the 2013-14 season (two franchises in the Dallas/Fort Worth area, one in Houston, TX, and Topeka, KS). The league also announced the formation of a West Division for the 2014-15 season (two teams in Southern California, one in San Jose, Ca, and one in Phoenix, AZ). http://www.na3hl.com/news/story.cfm?id=8710 The NA3HL and the American West Hockey League announced in March of 2014 that the AWHL was being merged into the league forming its new Frontier Division. The league announced on April 1, 2014 that the Battle Creek Revolution were being rebranded as the West Michigan Wolves. The league announced in May 2014 that it would add three teams to its southern division for the 2014-15 season, the Point Mallard Ducks based in Decatur, Alabama, the Texas Brahmas based in North Richland Hills, Texas to be run by the Lone Star Brahmas of the NAHL, and a yet to be named team based in Franklin, Tennessee, a suburb of Nashville. The Flint Jr. Generals were sold to the same ownership group that owns the Coulee Region Chill. The team is being relocated to La Crosse, Wisconsin and being renamed the La Crosse Freeze. 2015-16 The league expanded to 34 teams and went to six divisions. The league announced the addition of a franchise out of Sandy Point, Georgia (about 12 miles (20km) west of Macon, Georgia) to start play with the 2015-16 season but this team apparently fell through as no further mention was made of the franchise. The league formally announced the addition of the Evansville Thunderbolts to the league on April 3, 2015. The team will play in the South Division and be based out of the Swonder Ice Arena. The addition of Evansville will give the South Division 7 teams and the league overall 32 teams. The team is owned by the same ownership group that owns the Point Mallard Ducks organization. The Cleveland Jr. Lumberjacks were relocating to Wooster, Ohio and were to be renamed the Wooster OIlers (the organization originally had two teams with a second in the USPHL's Midwest division, which was eventually dropped.) The Metro Jets franchise was relocating to Fraser, Michigan from Waterford, Michigan. The team did not announce any plans to change the team's name as both cities are in the greater Detroit area. On May 21, 2015 the league added the Rochester Ice Hawks (formerly of the recently defunct Minnesota Junior Hockey League) as an expansion team for the 2015-16 season. On May 22, 2015 the league announce the addition of the Lafayette, Louisiana based Louisiana Drillers as an expansion team. The team will play out of the Planet Ice facility in Lafayette. on June 15, 2015 the Topeka Capitals announced they were relocating to Atlanta, Georgia and were being renamed the Atlanta Capitals. The team will play at the Center Ice Arena. The move was made due to the league issuing a deadline for the team to commit to the league for 2015-16. The team was at an impass with arena management over a new lease. In early August the Dallas Jr. Stars were renamed the Euless Jr. Stars when the organization was sold. The league announced that it would add the North American 3 Eastern Hockey League en masse as full members for the 2016-17 season. On May 22, 2016 a published report on the website http://thejuniorhockeynews.com/?p=61033%7Cthejuniorhockeynews.com indicated that the league had approved the addition of a team to be known as the Missoula Bruins. Missoula has been the home of the Missoula Maulers of the Amateur Athletic Union-sanctioned Western States Hockey League since 2007 (joining from the American West Hockey League in 2013 after being founded in the NorPac in 2007. Apparently, the Maulers organization had decided to disband earlier in the month due to a lease dispute with the Glacier Ice Rink's operators. On May 24, 2016 the NA3HL announced that the Minnesota Flying Aces franchise had been sold to the owners of the Brookings Blizzard and Alexandria Blizzard (Chris and Mitri Canavati). As part of the announcement of the sale, the team was relocating to the Willmar Civic Center Arena in Willmar, Minnesota for the 2016-17 season. Alumni Many prominent college and pro hockey players have played in the CSHL at one point in their careers, including 2007 Hobey Baker finalist Eric Ehn (Metro Jets), Colorado Avalanche forward and 2010 U.S. Olympian Paul Stastny (St. Louis Jr. Blues) and Chris Butler (St. Louis Jr. Blues), now in the Calgary Flames' organization. Current Teams Realigned for 2015-16 season Champions Silver Cup *2016-North Iowa Bulls *2015-Granite City Lumberjacks *2014-North Iowa Bulls *2013-North Iowa Bulls *2012-Granite City Lumberjacks Hurster Cup *2011-Chicago Hitmen *2010-St. Louis Jr. Blues *2009-Dubuque Thunderbirds *2008-Dubuque Thunderbirds *2007-Dubuque Thunderbirds *2006-St. Louis Jr. Blues *2005-St. Louis Jr. Blues *2004-St. Louis Jr. Blues *2003-St. Louis Jr. Blues *2002-Metro Jets *2001-Metro Jets *2000-St. Louis Jr. Blues *1999-Toledo Cherokee *1998-Motor City Chiefs *1997-Toledo Cherokee *1996-Motor City Chiefs *1995-Toledo Cherokee *1994-St. Louis Jr. Blues *1993-Wayne Chiefs *1992-Downriver Blades *1991-Wayne Chiefs *1990-Metro Jets *1989-Lytes Rustlers *1988-St. Louis Jr. Blues References Category:Ice hockey leagues Category:North American 3 Hockey League